The Practitioners Network is holding its yearly General Assembly today and tomorrow at the Egmont Palace in Brussels. The Belgian agency Enabel and the Luxembourg agency LuxDev ensured the presidency of the network over the past 12 months.
The Practitioners’ Network contributes to exchanging experiences and knowledge between different EU member states cooperation agencies on major international challenges such as Covid19 post-recovery, poverty, gender, inequality, climate change, job creation and growth, governance, peace and stability, digitalisation and migration.
During the co-Presidency of the network, Enabel and LuxDev developed a strategic agenda with the CEOs of the different agencies to make the network more ambitious in implementing the European international cooperation policy.
This echoes the new vision of the European Commission and its Team Europe Initiatives, pushing for more joint implementation between European member states development agencies. The PN has clearly positioned itself as the partner of choices of the Commission in this move.
“The platform contributes to the coherence of the European efforts, as we share experience and knowledge intending to be more effective in our work”, says Gaston Schwartz, managing director of LuxDev. “The PN has clearly positioned itself as the partner of choice for the Commission”
The COVID19 crisis has made European Development Agencies accelerate their desire to work together for more impact. Global challenges such as COVID require global solutions and it is only by joining forces, beyond words, that impact can be achieved.
“The Covid-19 crisis of this year has clearly shown that common efforts have a better impact on the ground, that we are stronger together, and that we need to build synergies and work side by side. Our partners in the rest of the world are also asking for it”, says Jean Van Wetter, managing director of Enabel, the Belgian development Agency.
A clear outcome of the Presidency of the network is the joint declaration made at the Finance in Common Summit in Paris in November 2020 where members of the PN committed to work together with Pubic Development Banks for more development impact.
The Practitioners’ Networks co-presidency is now handed over to two other member states organisations: the German and the Lithuanian agencies: GIZ and CPMA.
“Having spent 15 years on the field working for various development agencies in several developing countries, I strongly believe that the best way to have impact is by pooling resources together. I am proud of the new vision we have brought to the PN and I am glad that GIZ and CPMA will continue the work initiated. I wish them all the best” concludes jean Van Wetter.
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About Enabel
Enabel is the development agency of Belgium’s federal government. Enabel implements Belgium’s international development policy. Under the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, Enabel carries out public service assignments in Belgium and abroad. Enabel provides customised expertise, including Belgian public expertise, promotes the involvement of all and pursues top-level partnerships. Enabel enhances the impact of Belgium in international development by carrying out assignments for Belgian and international third-party donors.
About LuxDev
LuxDev is the Luxembourg Development Cooperation Agency. Its mission is to actively participate in the implementation of the development cooperation policy of the Luxembourg government, which mainly focuses on poverty eradication and sustainable development in its social, economic and environmental aspects. LuxDev’s work aims to strengthen their partner countries’ ownership of their development. Therefore, in each of its interventions, LuxDev seeks to act as a reliable partner and develop the capacities of the actors with whom the Agency cooperates.
About GIZ
As a provider of international cooperation services for sustainable development and international education work, the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) Gmbh is dedicated to building a future worth living around the world. As a German public-benefit federal enterprise, GIZ has over 50 years of experience in various areas, including economic development and employment, energy and the environment, and peace and security. The diverse GIZ expertise is in demand worldwide, with the German Government, European Union institutions, the United Nations, the private sector and governments of other countries all benefiting from the services.
About CPMA
The Central Project Management Agency (CPMA) is a public institution established in 2003 by the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Lithuania. The Agency: has experience in management and implementation of various European Union (EU) and other international donors’ programmes (European Economic Area and Norwegian Financial Mechanisms, Swiss Contribution); EU ”pillar assessed agency” administering EU funding under indirect management for 14 years now; has several international projects (the Instrument for Pre-Accession (IPA) (the Balkans and Turkey) and European Neighbourhood Instrument (ENI) Eastern Partnership countries; Since 2008 CPMA has been implementing 49 Twinning projects in IPA and ENI countries and ten other type projects (EU Technical Assistance, EU grant etc.). National Development Cooperation Agency as of 2017 July.
